Nuffield Trust responds to January Combined Performance Summary

Press release

Published: 09/03/2017

Commenting on the NHS performance figures for January, Nuffield Trust Chief Economist and Director of Research John Appleby said:

The numbers of patients stuck on a trolley waiting for a hospital bed have gone through the roof, with almost 80,000 patients waiting for four hours or more in January, and a staggering 988 of them waiting longer than twelve hours. These are vulnerable people with acute medical needs. Corridors, it seems, have become the new emergency wards.

John Appleby, Nuffield Trust

“These figures make dismal reading for the NHS and patients. The numbers of patients stuck on a trolley waiting for a hospital bed have gone through the roof, with almost 80,000 patients waiting for four hours or more in January, and a staggering 988 of them waiting longer than twelve hours. These are vulnerable people with acute medical needs. Corridors, it seems, have become the new emergency wards.

“The problems in social care are well known and cuts to services have been a big driver of these problems. That’s why the extra money announced in yesterday’s Budget is welcome. But with the NHS experiencing its own pressures and the social care funding gap set to be at least £2bn in the coming year alone, there are no guarantees that patients at A&E can expect let-up any time soon.”

Notes to editors

79,545 patients waited over four hours from the decision to admit to admission in January, of which 988 patients waited longer than 12 hours. The equivalent figures for last January were 51,571 and 158 respectively.

The NHS Combined Performance Summary published today covers a range of NHS performance indicators, from performance against the four-hour A&E target to waiting times for planned treatment. View the data on the NHS England website.